Why Your Chicken Is Producing White Foam When It's Boiled

Whether you're boiling chicken to make chicken salad, some comforting chicken noodle soup, or another dish, you've likely noticed a buildup of rather unappetizing white foam that starts to develop as the chicken cooks. Although this foam is entirely safe to consume, it can make broths cloudy unless it's skimmed away. But where does it come from?

Well, chicken is packed with proteins, some of which are extruded when the chicken is cooked. The type of protein responsible for the foam is a water-soluble variety called albumin, also found in other kinds of meat, including fish. It's why you'll also see white stuff seep from salmon when it's cooking too. Basically, as chicken heats during boiling, the muscles contract and squeeze out this extra protein, which then coagulates and turns into a white frothy foam. While this foam typically evaporates when grilling or pan-searing chicken in a pot of water or stock, it can pool and rise to the top.

Interestingly, more of this protein is likely to appear if you're boiling frozen chicken because the freezing process creates ice crystals that can rip open cells, causing more water and protein to leak out. So, if you want less foam, using thawed chicken is best. But keep in mind the more times the meat is frozen, say if you thawed it and then refroze it because you changed your mind, the more cell damage can occur, leading to extra foam when it is boiled.

If the white foam isn't appetizing to you, the good news is that there are ways to mitigate it or completely remove it. In fact, it's recommended to remove it if you're making something like chicken stock or chicken soup because the foam can make the broth cloudy and bind with fats and pieces of meat, which results in an undesirable texture and flavor. To skim away the foam, you can use something like Hiware's Stainless Steel Mesh Skimmer or a ladle. However, when using a ladle, you have to be careful not to remove too much liquid alongside the foam.

You can also minimize the amount of foam that's extruded by using fresh chicken and patting the meat dry to remove excess moisture before boiling. However, if you're boiling chicken to use in something like a tzatziki chicken salad, skimming away the foam isn't necessary since the meat will be removed from the water. Sure, you can skim it away while it's cooking if it really gives you the ick, but it won't impact the chicken's quality.